


violent colors so obscene

by bodhirookes



Category: 21 Jump Street - All Media Types
Genre: Complete, I promise, M/M, Nothing Huge, Slight spoilers, Some disguises, lots of fluff, um, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 19:24:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1829458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bodhirookes/pseuds/bodhirookes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zack tells Jenko he's joining the Jump Street division. Jenko highly disagrees with this- until he sees what get-ups Dickson decides to put Zack into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	violent colors so obscene

**Author's Note:**

> There are only slight spoilers for the 22 Jump Street- like, seriously, they're microscopic. One, I am 'ruining' how Zack looks in the new movie (you'll know which one I'm talking about) and the fact that him and the other two are now apart of Jump Street. And two, Jenko and Schmidt never actually left the program. They continue to go to high schools and colleges instead of doing stupid shit like getting attacked by octopuses and raving about Dora The Explorer. 
> 
> Also, I have never actually seen The Amazing Race, so I don't know if it really sucks. I would assume not because Joey Graceffa was on it and if he was on it then the show has to rock socks. 
> 
> Title is from the song These Days by The Black Keys.

When Zack says something to him about it, the very first thing out of Jenko's mouth is-

 

"No. Absolutely not."

  
And Zack. Zack is not impressed at _all_.

  
Jenko sees this in the way that the smaller man leans against their dining room table, arms crossed and eyebrow extended upwards. It's a look he gets when he forgets a date night or a _Star Wars_  quote that is of importance. Which, basically, is all of them.

  
"Greg, you do realize that I am _also_ an adult? I can say yes whether you're on board with the decision or not."

  
Jenko mirrors Zack's look rather spectacularly, and if Zack weren't trying to be mature, he would be impressed.

  
"Zack, you _do_ realize I could also put in a word with the Captain that almost guarantees that you won't be hired? I wouldn't do that, of course, but it's a possibility."

  
The younger's frown deepens, and Jenko knows that it was the wrong thing to say.

  
"Bullshit. I'm taking the job whether you consent or not. And the Captain _would_ hire me because I was offered the position- I didn't go groveling to him so that I could 'work closer to you', or whatever story you're trying to tell yourself."

  
This sets Jenko back on his heels, and he forgets his next retort. It's lost within a vision of the Captain asking Zack to come and work at 22 Jump Street, most likely with some sassy remarks, and Zack accepting. After those thoughts come the ones with Zack getting shot or kidnapped or a number of horrific things, and Jenko swallows heavily.

  
"Well, still-"

  
"No 'stills', Greg," Zack interrupts, and for his size and wild-as-all-fuck hair, he looks absolutely terrifying. "I am taking the job."

  
The bullet scar on Jenko's arm throbs, and wincing, he reaches up and touches it absent-mindedly. He drops his hand, though, when Zack zeroes in on the movement and his frown lines melt away at once.

  
But Zack doesn't let it go- instead, he moves away from the table to stand in front of Jenko and looks at him straight on, one full head shorter and all. Two years ago, he would have blushed from the roots of his hair to his toe nails and looked away with a stutter, but now he doesn't even _blink_ when Jenko talks to him.

  
The proximity going from zero to ninety in no time at all makes Jenko's head swim, and he can't help but reach out and rest his hands on Zack's sides. Amp it up to ninety five.

  
"Greg, I get why you don't want me to." Zack tells him softly, and looking away from his face to Jenko's arm, he reaches up and gently lays his thumb over the scar. Jenko doesn't flinch away, and he watches the way Zack preens. "It's dangerous as hell. But that's not fair, coming from you. You're in danger every second of every day and I _hate_ it. All the time."

  
Jenko wants to say that he's bigger, and trained properly to be a cop, but knows it will only result in a huge fight. So he says nothing and lets his fingers spider out across Zack's ribs.

  
Zack smiles slowly from the corner of his mouth, in a way that makes Jenko's tongue go dry as a bone, and he steps even closer. They're chest to chest, knee to knee, and his slender hands are cupping Jenko's neck as Jenko's are tucked around his hips.

  
"So playing the 'you could get hurt' card is not going to fucking work for me."

  
Jenko wants to protest further- wants to shout and throw things and beat the Captain up with a chair or something equally random, because the thought of Zack going out in the field like he does makes his stomach churn.

  
But Zack's also right; he does the same thing, has the same job, and Zack is an adult who can and will make his own choices. Jenko doesn't have to like it, but he will have to deal with it.

  
So he sighs and leans in closer.

  
"I know," he tells Zack quietly, and when Zack just smiles softly, Jenko loves him so much it hurts. Zack has never been one of those people who are constantly out to prove themselves right and everyone else an idiot. It makes Jenko feel like a king some days. "I know. Just... Promise me you'll be careful, okay? Don't be fucking stupid like me and Schmidt."

  
Zack laughs, a deep and rich sound that makes Jenko's entire body curl forwards, and he looks ready to burst into a million rays of sunlight.

  
"You're not stupid." Zack tells him seriously (and ruins it by grinning so widely it must hurt), then draws Jenko in for a deep kiss before the older man can reply.

  
 **_~.~.~_ **

  
Zack's first undercover role comes as a surprise to exactly nobody.

  
He heads off to a high school three towns over as a Chemistry student, looking to bust a group trying to do a knockoff version of HSF.

  
"Are you _kidding me?_ " Zack asks with exasperation. He runs a hand through his unruly hair and Jenko fights laughter when the hand gets stuck. "A Chem student? _Really_? I thought this was supposed to branch me out and get me into _every_ clique."

  
"It is," Dickson tells him, hands on his hips and right one dangerously close to his gun. Jenko watches it like a hawk. "But for this case, you'll be going undercover as a science nerd. Now shut the fuck up and go study your part. You start school on Monday."

  
"Don't I need to get some clothes?"

  
"You already got on a stupid ass t-shirt. You're good to go."

  
Zack looks down at his dark blue shirt as the Captain walks away. It reads 'E=MC Hammer squared' with doubles of MC Hammer dancing back-to-back.

  
He looks at Jenko's grinning face and groans again.

  
"Shit."

  
 **_~.~.~_ **

  
No one tells Jenko that Roman and Delroy are going under cover with Zack, and he thinks that's bullshit because he would have taken Zack becoming a Jump Street cop _so_ much better. If Roman and Delroy are with him, they'll be sly and smart as hell together.

  
"Or they could seriously fuck some shit up," Schmidt tells him when Jenko takes in the three men laughing at Delroy's computer. Jenko swipes at him and Schmidt dodges him easily.

  
 **_~.~.~_ **

  
They don't end up fucking any shit up, but only two of them go to the school. Roman stays behind to monitor the video footage and look things up; Zack and Delroy go into the school together, claiming the maternal twins deal. It's much more believable because it's only November and transfer students are simply overlooked as late movers.

  
"It's hell." Zack tells him the first evening. He looks _exhausted_. "Most of the AP Chem students can't even explain what a covalent bond is. I blew them all away when answering easily and it was so _fucking bad_."

  
Jenko understands what he means; he's by no means the smartest person in the world, but by God do the kids at most high schools suck monkey balls at learning.

  
Delroy gives him a similar story when he and Roman come over for pizza and _The Big Bang Theory_ two weeks into the investigation.

  
"Jenk," he mumbles around a mess of cheese and pepperoni, causing Zack's nose to wrinkle. "Those kids are dumb as _hell_. I have English 12 with a couple of the popular kids and none of them know how to spell breathe."

  
Jenko snorts. Roman also laughs, but it's more of a teasing laugh as he leans forwards for another slice.

  
"And while you two are hangin' out with a bunch of football players and stoners, I get to do research and play Skyrim all day."

  
Delroy throws his balled-up napkin at Roman while Zack tells him, "Roman, shut the fuck up."

  
They miss the first episode yelling over each other and making comments about Skyrim, and Jenko just sits back and watches, grinning and rubbing his thumb over Zack's lower back.

  
 _**~.~.~** _

  
A month later, Zack gets a new case.

  
This time, all three of the idiots are going into school together. They play the adoption card, explaining to anyone that asks that they're all from different places around the world and had been adopted as infants. Zack is from Ireland, Delroy is from Sweden, and Roman is from Japan.

  
They also get to be in a different social group. When Jenko hears what it is, he spends about ten minutes crying at his desk with Zack standing next to him; he's wearing an Aztec-like printed sweater, yellow jeans, vans, a beanie, and has about a million and one rings on his fingers. An airbrush tattoo spindles up from his shoulder onto his neck, nothing but curves and juts of lines.

  
He looks like an absolute hipster and it's the best thing Jenko's ever seen.

  
"I don't see what's so funny." Zack tells him again, and that's exactly why it's great.

  
Jenko lifts his head up from where it was pillowed on his arms, and laughs even harder, abs flexing painfully.

  
"You," he gasps out, pulling on the hem of the sweater. "You don't know _anything_ about being a hipster."

  
Zack has the audacity to look offended.

  
"I do too!" he yells with indignation. He tries crossing his arms but his chunky _Nikon_ camera gets in the way; the strap has flowers around the edges and makes Jenko giggle.

  
Jenko takes a deep breath and stops laughing, but can't wipe away his grin. "Name one good band. From _this_ year."

  
Zack opens his mouth, and then lets it hang there because he _doesn't know any bands_.

  
"There's, uh, that one band." he stalls, jutting his head forwards. A curl falls out of the beanie and whaps him right in the eyebrow. "Ah- um. _Um_. There's... Madonna?"

  
Jenko laughs again, so loud that it draws attention from everyone scattered around the room.

  
"Madonna?" he echos, looking absolutely tickled by this answer. "Okay, one, she's a solo artist, not a band. And two, she's not from this year."

  
Zack scowls. "Madonna is _eternal_."

  
Jenko's grin widens and his index and middle fingers come up to hang off of Zack's pockets. "Try _Mumford & Sons_ instead."

  
 **_~.~.~_ **

  
Two days into the hipster case, Jenko is bombarded by all three of the boys at once. Specifically, by their cameras.

  
"Why the hell do you need a picture of me?" he asks Zack, who is fiddling with the focus. His left eye is pressed to the screen and his right is squinted, and he looks unendingly cute.

  
"It's for Photography Club," Delroy sighs; he's got a beanie on, too, with grey jeans and a _Vampire Weekend_ shirt. His hair is in a miniature quiff and he looks a little more hipster than Zack. "You get mega cool points if you're friends with gay kids."

  
Jenko's eyebrows compress together. "What?"

  
"I'm going to take a picture of you, _darling_ ," Zack sums up, taking the camera backwards with him. "And then these two are going to take a picture of us kissing passionately under a bleeding sunset."

  
"That doesn't make _any_ fucking sense," Jenko protests.

  
"Just shut up and look cute."

  
Jenko forgets his confusion for a moment and smiles at Zack's bossy tone; he's immediately blinded by the sudden flash of the camera. Everywhere he looks is now covered by a solid black rectangle.

  
"Wow," he says in a daze. "Thanks for that heads up, _babe_."

  
Out of the corners of his vision, he sees Zack coming towards him with a grin on his handsome face. He's worried at once.

  
"You won't need to see for about ten more seconds." he tells Jenko simply, reaching up to cup his cheeks. "Maybe more."

  
He uses Jenko's face to pull himself upwards, and then the elder cop has an armful of Zack kissing him like they're about to die and it's the only thing he can do. He thinks fleetingly about untangling them and telling the three that he will not be used to get brownie points with the hipster kids, but then decides it's pointless.

  
So he does what the younger wants him to- he crushes Zack up in his arms and nearly picks him off of his feet, kissing him for all that it's worth. 

  
He can hear the clicks of Roman and Delroy's cameras in the distance, and wonders if he'll be able to get a copy of the shot. Not because they're kissing wildly, but because Zack still looks like an idiot.

  
In fact, Roman is the only one who looks remotely grunge. His hair is shaved on one side and combed over in a complex wave-do with a single earring in his right ear. He's wearing _Keds_ and jeans and a V-neck with the typical black square glasses that remind Jenko of the ones used for 3D.

  
When they pull apart, Delroy tells them they got a good shot.

  
"But don't do that again," he insists with a grimace. "It's like watching my parents kiss."

  
Which is why Zack and Jenko grin at each other and then proceed to fall on top of the table, kissing sloppily and loudly.

  
 **_~.~.~_ **

  
When Zack gets home the next day, he tells Jenko their kissing shot got him into the dealer's circle and then he blows Jenko right in the middle of the kitchen.

  
 **_~.~.~_ **

  
Jenko thinks that the worst of Zack's personalities for the job start and end with him being on the cross country team at one high school. He has to wear his hair back in a single ponytail deal to keep it out of his face, and lose a lot of weight. He also has to watch the team's 'show', which is _The Amazing Race_. Watching it will get him into the club because the show is supposed to be awesome.

  
"This show fucking sucks," Zack whines for what must be the tenth time. He's sprawled out on the couch, with a protein shake in hand, and Jenko kind of really wants to replace it with a chocolate shake. One with _extra_ chocolate and whipped cream and sprinkles because Zack basically looks thin enough to float through walls.

  
Instead of saying this out loud, Jenko continues to scribble out leads for his and Schmidt's bust. "Then don't watch it. Google the results and ramble about random details and shit."

  
"Can't," Zack grunts out, moving to click the next episode. "Adam watches every single episode like five times each and knows them down to the minute they end. He's fucking _nuts_."

  
"Sounds like you and _Smallville_ ," Jenko snorts.

  
Zack scoffs and pokes him in the stomach. " _Smallville_ is enjoyable. Unlike this flaming pile of shit they call a TV show."

  
He writes down Tyler Bates? in one of the boxes, because the senior with a knack for math and swimming super fast sounds like a pretty good candidate for taking up a Speed business. It's the same stuff Zack's after in the cross country team from Adam Kennedy, and they're trying to contain the shit.

  
"I think you only like _Smallville_ because Tom Welling is super fucking cute."

  
Zack pinches his abs, but doesn't humor him with an answer.

  
 **_~.~.~_ **

  
Jenko is absolutely wrong about the cross country persona being the worst. He's so wrong he could cry.

  
He doesn't even know what to expect, because Zack's at Mindy's house getting his hair cut. Mindy does the makeovers for the team when appearances are needing to be changed, and she's pretty fabulous at it. Once she made Zack look presentable as what Jenko liked to call the Celery Kids, who were nothing but a bunch of crunchy granola students with a lot of money and polos and nice cars. Zack came back from Mindy's with a baby pink polo, khakis, leather shoes, slicked-back hair, and a _Mustang_. It was fucking crazy.

  
So when Zack gets assigned to a high school to bust up a concoction of LSD and something that looks a lot like meth, Jenko has no idea what he's going to look like. Zack had texted him and told him he'd be late getting in because a makeover was going to be prudent for his case. But he hadn't texted and said _what_ said makeover included.

  
He's talking to Schmidt about who could be their dealer of a Roofies hybrid when his best friend looks up and freezes.

  
"Jenko- oh my _God_."

  
Schmidt looks like the roof just collapsed on his head and took the entire world down with it. Expecting that something bad has happened, Jenko gets off of his desk and has whipped around to look at the entrance faster than the eye can follow. His mind flits at once to Zack and bullets and _bad_.

  
He's half right- the gaping and surprise from Schmidt is coming from Zack, but he's not hurt.

  
Instead, he looks almost unrecognizable. Slouching his way through the throng of cops and detectives, his appearance makes him taller and thinner and darker; he looks like a human shadow.

  
His hair is what changed the most; ridden of his curls and their honey-golden color, his hair is cropped and spiked into a mini-mohawk and so black that it's almost blue. A necklace on a black cord hangs off of his neck and bats against a _Slipknot_ shirt cloaked in a black jacket. His jeans are skin-tight and dark, tucked over a pair of black _Converse_.

  
"He looks so _strange_." Delroy comments quietly, looking at Zack's approaching figure with wide eyes. He has yet to take in Roman, who looks equally brooding and dark behind Zack, though it's much more natural on him.

  
But Jenko disagrees.

  
He thinks that Zack looks _intoxicating_.

  
And he's still staring with parted lips as Zack comes to stand in front of him with a small smile. It looks uncharacteristically bright against his gloomy clothing and it makes Jenko's heart lurch in his chest.

  
"I know," Zack agrees, taking in Jenko's reaction with clear amusement. "I look really fucking weird. I guess I'm going into the hardass clique this time. Roman and I get to listen to death metal and drink beer and get our balls pierced."

  
Jenko should be saying something about the ball-piercing, or supposed underage drinking, or anything really in relation to the topic at hand. He should agree that Zack looks different. But instead, he says:

  
"You look fucking _hot_."

  
He can see himself in Zack's pupils as they dilate, and without thinking about it, Jenko digs his fingers in the dark hair and kisses Zack deeply. He tastes like sunshine and peppermint gum, but smells like a different person, all leather and hair dye and ink. He must have another temporary tattoo somewhere and thinking about it drives Jenko _wild_.

  
" _Greg Jenko!_ " he hears someone yell, and tearing his mouth away from Zack's, he looks up with crazed eyes and swollen lips. Mindy is standing in the middle of the room, pointing a hair straightener at him threateningly. It's pink with purple polka dots and looks like it could definitely slay someone. Namely, him. "If you even _think_ about fucking up his hair, I will fuck _you_ up."

  
Jenko's eyes flicker down to Zack again, and he sees that he still has his fingers rooted in the mohawk. Which is slightly sticky with hair gel.

  
When he pulls his fingers out of the inky hair, the gel remains, and Zack looks absolutely _wrecked._

  
Naturally, Delroy ruins the moment.

  
"Dude, it looks like lube on your hands."

  
" _Delroy_!" Schmidt shouts, and _that's_ when the Captain intervenes.

 

He sticks his head out of the doorway and looks as angry as ever.

  
"Y'all shut the fuck up! Jenko, stop fucking the kid right in the middle of the goddamn lab or I'll fire your ass and get you arrested for public indecency."

  
That's all he says before going back into his office, and Jenko takes a step away from Zack to put some space between them. It would probably be a bad idea to push him up against the wall and fuck him at work.

  
He needs to leave or that's _exactly_ what will happen. So he grabs Schmidt by the arm and steers him towards the door. They'll come up with something to do.

  
"I'll see you at home." he tells Zack in a voice that sounds as rough as Zack looks, and then he books it out of 22 Jump Street before he gets _thrown_ out.

  
All of the other agents watch as he goes, listen as Schmidt yells at him for begin _fucking gross_ , and wonder what in the _hell_ just happened.

  
A collective look at Zack is taken, and when they see that he's staring after Jenko like a lusty teenager, that's all the answer they need. So they go back to work and pretend that it's just a regular thing.

  
Which, with Jenko and Zack, it kind of totally _is_.

  
 **_~.~.~_ **

  
Later, when Jenko's leaving a constellation of hickies all over Zack's perfectly pale skin, he finds the tattoo. It ends up being more than one- the biggest turns out to be the phases of the moon down his spine, all a delicate black and light grey. The second tattoo is behind Zack's ear, and it's a semicolon.

  
He leaves a _huge_ mark there, and loses his mind when Zack makes the throatiest moan he's ever heard, fingers digging into his back and thighs squeezing tightly around his waist.

  
 _**~.~.~** _

  
When Mindy finds it the next morning, before Zack heads to school, she screams at Jenko and beats him with the bottle of hair gel. Everyone hears the fight and no one is shocked at all.

  
So Jenko is uncaring when he plants one right on Zack's mouth in the middle of the office again. The Captain's on the phone, so he doesn't see. It feels like a tiny rebellion and Zack laughs when Delroy and Roman and Schmidt all groan at them and Jenko just kisses him harder.

  
So Jenko decides he wins even though Mindy _might_ have concussed him with the hair gel. 

 

He also decides that it's Zack's best and worst disguise _ever_. 

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, just a silly one shot in honor of me seeing 22 Jump Street for the first time :) I hope you enjoyed it and have either seen or are going to see 22 Jump Street. Some sequels suck donkey twat but 22 Jump Street fuckin' ruled. And also Zack makes me want to stab myself because he's fucking perfect even though he's on camera for all of about ten seconds.


End file.
